Automatic disk reproducing apparatus and method of the same

ABSTRACT

An automatic disk reproducing apparatus includes a chassis body, a duplicating device, a disk feeding device, a disk conveying device and a disk holder. The duplicating device is mounted in the chassis body and has a tray. The disk feeding device is mounted on the chassis body to hold a stack of compact disks in position and allows gravity to pull the compact disk at the bottom of the stack of compact disks into the tray for duplication. The disk conveying device includes two conveying members and two arms connected respectively to the conveying members to elevate the recorded compact disk from the tray after the duplication of the compact disk and convey the recorded compact disk to the disk holder.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on, and claims priority from, TaiwanApplication Serial Number 95143533, filed Nov. 24, 2006, the disclosureof which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of The Invention

The present invention relates to an automatic disk reproducing apparatusand a method of the same. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to an automatic disk reproducing apparatus with a disk feedingdevice that holds a stack of compact disks in position and allowsgravity to pull the compact disk at the bottom of the stack of compactdisks onto a tray for duplication.

2. Description of Related Art

Optical disks, are so-called compact disks (CDs), contain digital datasuch as music, text, video, computer programs, etc. that can be read outor written in by laser beams. Optical disks have been extensively usedas a medium to store or replicate the aforementioned digital data.

Generally, mass replication of compact disks uses stamps to transferdata from the master to unrecorded compact disks. However, the stampmethod is only suitable to replicate an amount of a thousand or moredisks. Otherwise, the cost of replicating each disk will be high and noteconomic. For home users or small business users, burners are anothersolution to replicate disks when there only several or tens of diskcopies are needed.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298 discloses a programmable self-operating compactdisk duplication system. The compact disk duplication system comprisesmultiple burners that are stacked one on another, and a pivotaltransport tower with an arm that moves upwardly and downwardly. The armon the pivotal transport tower moves and transports the disks includingthe master disk, unrecorded disks or recorded disks among the burnersand disk spindle members. However, the mechanical structure of theaforementioned system is sophisticated, which causes high manufacturingcosts. Besides, the aforementioned system is bulky and occupies a largestorage space that is inconvenient to be packaged and/or transported.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,232 discloses a compact disk feeder. The compactdisk feeder comprises a transfer device that elevates and spins an armto move unrecorded compact disks from a disk holder to the tray of aprinter to print the cover of the disk. After the printing operation ofthe cover is completed, the arm removes the printed disk from the trayof the printer and transports the printed disk to another disk holder.Likewise, the aforementioned compact disk feeder is bulky, and hence isinconvenient to package or transport.

Further, the aforementioned compact disk feeder uses the arm to remove asingle disk from a stack of compact disks and transport the disk to thetray of the printer or the burner. The mechanical structure of the armand the automatic control system of the arm are complex. The arm alsorequires and occupies a large area to move, which makes theaforementioned compact disk feeder inconvenient to use.

Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved automatic compact diskreproducing apparatus to mitigate or obviate the aforementionedproblems.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic diskreproducing apparatus and a method of the same that the apparatus iscompact and does not occupy large space during replication operation.

An embodiment of an automatic disk reproducing apparatus in accordancewith the present invention includes a chassis body, a duplicatingdevice, a disk feeding device, a disk conveying device and a diskholder. The duplicating device is mounted in the chassis body and has atray. The disk feeding device is mounted on the chassis body to hold astack of compact disks in position and feeds the bottom one of the stackof compact disks onto the tray by falling to duplicate. The diskconveying device includes two conveying members and two arms connectedrespectively to the conveying members to elevate the recorded compactdisk from the tray after the duplication of the compact disk, and conveythe recorded compact disk to the disk holder.

The disk feeding device comprises a disk feeding mechanism. The diskfeeding mechanism comprises multiple feeding wheels, a powertransmission member, a power device and a reducing device coupled to thepower device. The feeding wheels engage the reducing device and arerotated by the reducing device through the power transmission member asthe power device is turned on.

The rotations of the feeding wheels move compact disk at the bottom ofthe stack of compact disks until gravity makes the compact disk fallonto the tray. The fallen compact disk is received on the tray of theduplicating device. The tray with the compact disk is retracted toduplicate. After the duplication, the tray with the recorded compactdisk is ejected. The conveying members elevate the recorded compact diskfrom the tray so that the tray can be retracted again. In addition, theconveying members convey the recorded compact disk to the disk holder.

The apparatus further comprises a housing mounted on the chassis body.The housing comprises an outer casing and a cover. The outer casing ismounted outside the chassis body. The cover is pivotally mounted on thechassis body over the outer casing.

Since gravity pulls the compact disk onto the tray, the large space forthe mechanical component to move the compact disks such as using a robotto move compact disks does not require. Thus, the apparatus is compactand is convenient to use.

In addition, the apparatus is also convenient to transport or storebecause of its compact size. The apparatus saves the cost of shipping orstoring. The main components of the apparatus can be easily demounted,therefore, the apparatus is benefit to manufacture, repair and upgrade.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an automatic diskreproducing apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1 when a cover ofthe apparatus is open;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the apparatus in FIG. 1 when a housingof the apparatus is removed;

FIG. 4B is a side view of the apparatus in FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a chassis body and a disk feedingdevice of the apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5B is a side view of the chassis body and the disk feeding deviceof the apparatus in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the disk feeding device of theapparatus in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6B is a side view of the disk feeding device of the apparatus inFIG. 6A;

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a disk conveying device of theapparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7B is a bottom perspective view of the conveying device of theapparatus in FIG. 7B;

FIG. 7C is a perspective view of a stationary support of the diskconveying device of the apparatus in FIG. 7A;

FIG. 7D is a side view of the stationary support of the conveying deviceof the apparatus in FIG. 7C;

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of a conveying member mounted in a trackof the conveying device;

FIG. 8B is a front view of the conveying member of the conveying devicein FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9A to FIG. 9D are operational rear views of the of the diskconveying device;

FIG. 10A to FIG. 10D are operational side views of the of the diskconveying device;

FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D are operational front views of the of the diskconveying device;

FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B are operational top views of the disk feedingdevice; and

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are enlarged perspective views of a feeding wheelof the disk feeding device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers areused in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

Embodiments of an automatic compact disk reproducing apparatus and amethod for the same in accordance with the present invention areprovided. The apparatus comprises a duplicating device, a disk feedingdevice, a frame and a disk conveying device. The duplicating device maybe a tray device and has a tray. The tray has an ejected position and aretracted position. The tray is under the disk feeding device when thetray is at the ejected position. The disk feeding device holds a stackof unrecorded compact disks and gravity pulls a single compact disk ontothe tray. The disk feeding device gradually separates the compact disksso that one compact disk falls on the tray to be duplicated after thetray with the compact disk moves to its retracted position. Afterduplication, the tray moves to its ejected position again, and therecorded compact disk is removed from the tray and conveyed to a diskholder by conveying members of the disk conveying device where theconveying members are movably mounted on the frame.

Refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. An embodiment ofan automatic compact disk reproducing apparatus 1 in accordance with thepresent invention is illustrated. The apparatus 1 comprises a housing10, a chassis body 20, a disk feeding device 30, a disk conveying device40 and a duplicating device 50.

The housing 10 is mounted on the chassis body 20 and comprises an outercasing 11 and a cover 12. The outer casing 11 is mounted outside thechassis body 20. The cover 12 is pivotally mounted on the chassis body20 over the outer casing 11.

The chassis body 20 comprises a mounting plate 15, two wings 21 and adisk holder 13. The mounting plate 15 is demountably mounted to thewings 21 through which the duplicating device 50 is mounted. Theduplicating device 50 may be a tray device such as a compact disk burnerand has a tray 51 that can be ejected and retracted. The tray 51 canhold a compact disk 60 and move between an ejected position and aretracted position. The disk holder 13 is attached to the wings 21 at aposition corresponding to the ejected position of the tray 51 so as tohold the recorded compact disks after the duplication.

The disk feeding device 30 is mounted on the chassis body 20 at aposition over the ejected position of the tray 51 to gradually separatea stack of unrecorded compact disks 60 and allows gravity to pull asingle unrecorded compact disk 60 onto the tray 51.

The disk conveying device 40 is mounted on the chassis body 20 andcomprises two conveying members 24. The conveying members 24 arerespectively and movably mounted on the wings 21 to remove the compactdisk 60 from the tray 51 and convey the compact disk 60 to the diskholder 13 after the duplication operation of the disk 60 is completed.

The outer casing 11 has a disk feeding hole 110 that is defined at aposition corresponding to the disk feeding device 30 through which thecompact disk 60 passes.

Refer to FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B. The chassis body 20further comprises two tracks 23 and two resilient members 25. The wings21 respectively have a through hole 22 defined at a positioncorresponding to the ejected position of the tray 51. The tracks 23 arerespectively mounted on the wings 21 inside the chassis body 20 and arerespectively aligned with the through holes 22. The conveying members 24are slidably and respectively mounted on the tracks 23 and sliderespectively along the tracks 23. The resilient members 25 are springsand are respectively connected to the conveying members 24 and thetracks 23. In the embodiment, each conveying member 24 has a recess 240aligned with the associated through hole 22 through which a drivingmember 420 is inserted to move the conveying member 24 upward andpresses the conveying member 24 to an inclined state. The upwardmovements of the conveying members 24 elongate the resilient members 25that draw and return the conveying members 24 downward when the drivingmembers 420 move downward. The resilient member 25 has two ends, and oneend is connected to the conveying member 24 and the other end isconnected to the track 23.

Refer to FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B and FIG. 12A. The disk feeding device 30comprises a supporting plate 31, a supporting frame 32 and a diskfeeding mechanism 33. The disk feeding device 30 has an opening 310defined completely through the supporting plate 31 and the supportingframe 32. The opening 310 is aligned with the disk feeding hole 110 ofthe outer casing 11 and is larger than the compact disk 60 in sizethrough which the compact disk 60 passes. The supporting frame 32 ismounted on the supporting plate 31 on which multiple disk posts 320 aremounted. The disk posts 320 holds the stack of compact disks 60 inposition. The disk feeding mechanism 33 is mounted between thesupporting plate 31 and the supporting frame 32 and suspends the stackof compact disks 60 over the opening 310.

Further refer to FIG. 12B. The disk feeding mechanism 33 comprisesmultiple feeding wheels including a driving feeding wheel 330 and twodriven feeding wheels 332, a power transmission member 334, a sensor 34,a power device 35 and a reducing device 36. The power device 35 may be amotor. The reducing device 36 is coupled to the power device 35 andcomprises multiple gears engaged one by another. The reducing device 36reduces revolutions of the power device 35. The driving feeding wheel330 engages the reducing device 36 and is rotated by the reducing device36 when the power device 35 is turned on. The driving feeding wheel 330rotates the driven feeding wheels 332 through the power transmissionmember 334. Thus, the feeding wheels rotate simultaneously through thepower transmission member 334. The power transmission member 334 may bea transmission belt. The sensor 34 reacts to the revolutions of thedriving feeding wheel 330.

Refer to FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B. The driving feeding wheel 330 hasmultiple spiral flanges 330 a, a cutting edge 330 b, a sensingprotrusion 330 c and a pushing protrusion 330 d. The cutting edge 330 bis defined in the spiral flanges 330 a. The sensing protrusion 330 c issensed by the sensor 34 so that the sensor 34 reacts to the drivingfeeding wheel 330. Likewise, the driven feeding wheel 332 has multiplespiral flanges 332 a and a cutting edge 332 b. The cutting edge 332 b isdefined in the spiral flanges 332 a. Thus, the pushing protrusion 330 dpushes a compact disk 60 (the bottom one of the stack compact disks heldby the disk posts 320) towards the driven wheels 332 when the drivingwheel 330 is rotated. The compact disk 60 is moved along the spiralflanges 330 a, 332 a as the feeding wheels 330,332 are rotated, isseparated from the feeding wheels 330,332 through the cutting edges 330b, 330 c and is eventually pulled onto the tray 51 by gravity.

The feeding operation of compact disk is stopped when the sensingprotrusion 330 c of the driving feeding wheel 330 is rotated to thesensor 34 and sensed by the sensor 34. At this moment, the feedingwheels 330, 332 are stopped. The rest of the stack of compact disks areheld by the spiral flanges 330 a, 332 a over the disk feeding hole 110of the outer casing 10. The disk feeding mechanism 33 feeds one singlecompact disk onto the tray 51 at a time.

Refer to FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B, FIG. 7C and FIG. 7D. The disk conveyingdevice 40 further comprises a stationary support 41, two swinging arms42, a connecting board 43, a driving unit 44 and a power transmissiondevice 45. The stationary support 41 is mounted on the chassis body 20.The swinging arms 42 are pivotally mounted on the stationary support 41and are connected by the connecting board 43. Each swinging arm 42 hasan end extended toward the through hole 22 of the wing 21.

Further refer to FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C and FIG. 9D. The drivingmembers 420, may be cylinders or bars, are respectively attached to theends of the arms 42 and extended into the through holes 22 of the wings21 and the recesses 240 of the conveying members 24. The connectingboard 43 has an elongated hole 430. The driving unit 44 and the powertransmission device 45 are mounted on the stationary support 41. Thedriving unit 44 may be a motor. The power transmission device 45 iscoupled to the driving unit 44 to reduce the revolutions of the drivingunit 44 and comprises multiple gears and an eccentric shaft 451. Theeccentric shaft 451 is slidably mounted and held in the elongated hole430 of the connecting board 43 and is rotated by the gears. Thus, whenthe driving unit 44 is turned on, the rotations of the eccentric shaft451 cause the swinging arms 42 to swing upwardly and downwardly throughthe elongated hole 430 of the connecting board 43.

Refer to FIG. 10A and FIG. 11A. When the duplication operation iscompleted, the tray 51 with the recorded compact disk 60 is ejected toits ejected position.

Refer to FIG. 10B and FIG. 11B. The swinging arms 42 are pivoted to movethe driving members 420 upward, and the conveying members 24 grasp andhold the compact disk 60.

Refer to FIG. 10C and FIG. 11C. The driving members 420 are continuouslymoved upward, which respectively moves the conveying members 24 upwardlywith the compact disk 60 along the tracks 23 to elevate and remove thecompact disk 60 from the tray 51. Then, the tray 51 is retracted to itsretracted position after the compact disk 60 has been removed.

Refer to FIG. 10D and FIG. 11D. The swinging movements on the swingingarms 42 cause the driving members 420 to move downward so that thedriving members 420 press on the bottom edges of the recesses 240 of theconveying members 24 until the conveying members 24 are inclined. Thecompact disk 60 falls on the disk holder 13. Thus, the conveying members24 convey the compact disk 60 to the disk holder 13.

The main components and other components of the apparatus 1 aredemountable from the chassis body 20. Those main components such as thehousing 10, the disk holder 13 and the mounting plate 15. Consequently,assembling and maintaining the apparatus 1 is convenient, andmanufacturing cost is low. Also, repairing the apparatus 1 isconvenient.

Further, the apparatus 1 does not need a large space to transport thecompact disks including unrecorded disks and recorded disks. Therefore,the apparatus 1 is convenient to use.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present inventioncover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

1. An automatic disk reproducing apparatus comprising a chassis body; aduplicating device mounted in the chassis body and comprising a tray,wherein the tray has an ejected position and a retracted position; adisk feeding device mounted on the chassis body at a positioncorresponding to the ejected position of the tray to hold a stack ofcompact disks in position and feed a bottom one of the stack of compactdisks onto the tray by falling to duplicate; a disk conveying devicemounted on the chassis body and comprising two conveying members and twoarms connected respectively to the conveying members; and a disk holderattached to the chassis body; wherein the arms move respectively theconveying members to convey a duplicated compact disk on the tray at theejected position to the disk holder after duplication of the duplicatedcompact disk is completed.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1,wherein the duplicating device comprises a tray, and the tray has anejected position and a retracted position; the chassis body comprisingtwo wings respectively having a through hole defined at a positioncorresponding to the ejected position of the tray; two tracksrespectively mounted on the wings inside and respectively aligned withthe through holes in the wings on which the conveying members areslidably and respectively mounted; and two resilient membersrespectively connected to the conveying members and the tracks; and thedisk conveying device further comprising a stationary support mounted onthe chassis body; a connecting board connecting the arms; a driving unitmounted on the stationary support; and a power transmission devicemounted on the stationary support and coupled to the driving unit tomake the arms swing upwardly and downwardly to remove the duplicatedcompact disk from the tray at the ejected position.
 3. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the disk feeding device further comprises asupporting plate; a supporting frame mounted on the supporting plate;multiple disk posts mounted on the supporting frame to hold the stack ofcompact disks in position; a disk feeding mechanism mounted between thesupporting plate and the supporting frame to feed the compact disk atthe bottom of the stack of compact disks by allowing gravity to pull thecompact disk at the bottom of the stack onto the tray for duplication;wherein the disk feeding device has an opening defined completelythrough the supporting plate and the supporting frame, and the openingis larger than the compact disk at the bottom of the stack of compactdisks through which the disk feeding mechanism uses gravity to pull thecompact disk at the bottom of the stack onto the tray for duplication.4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the disk feedingmechanism comprises multiple feeding wheels; a power transmissionmember; a power device; and a reducing device coupled to the powerdevice; wherein the feeding wheels engage the reducing device, arerotated by the reducing device through the power transmission member asthe power device is turned on.
 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3,wherein the disk feeding mechanism comprises multiple feeding wheelsincluding a driving feeding wheel and two driven feeding wheels; a powertransmission member; a power device; and a reducing device coupled tothe power device; wherein the driving feeding wheel engages the reducingdevice, is rotated by the reducing device as the power device is turnedon, and rotates simultaneously the driven feeding wheels through thepower transmission member.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4,wherein the disk feeding mechanism further comprises a sensor to reactrevolutions of one of the feeding wheels.
 7. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 5, wherein the disk feeding mechanism further comprises a sensorto react revolutions of the driving feeding wheel.
 8. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the chassis body comprises a mounting plateon which the duplicating device is mounted.
 9. The apparatus as claimedin claim 2, wherein the chassis body comprises a mounting platedemountably mounted to the wings on which the duplicating device ismounted.
 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising ahousing mounted on the chassis body and comprising an outer casingmounted outside the chassis body and having a disk feeding hole alignedwith the opening of the disk feeding device; and a cover pivotallymounted on the chassis body over the outer casing.
 11. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the resilient members are springs andrespectively have a first end and a second end, the first ends arerespectively connected to the conveying members and the second ends arerespectively connected to the tracks to return the conveying members.12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the duplicating deviceis a compact disk burner.
 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2,wherein the connecting board has an elongated hole, the driving unit isa motor, and the power transmission device comprises multiple gears andan eccentric shaft, and the eccentric shaft is slidably mounted and heldin the elongated hole of the connecting board and is rotated by thegears.
 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein each conveyingmember has a recess aligned with the corresponding through hole; eacharm has an end and a driving member, the ends are respectively extendedtoward the through holes of the wings, and the driving members arerespectively attached to the ends and extended into the through holes ofthe wings and the recesses of the conveying members.
 15. The apparatusas claimed in claim 6, wherein each feeding wheel has multiple spiralflanges and a cutting edge defined in the spiral flanges, and one of thefeeding wheels further has a sensing protrusion sensed by the sensor anda pushing protrusion to push the compact disk at the bottom of the stackof compact disks when it is rotated.
 16. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 7, wherein each feeding wheel has multiple spiral flanges and acutting edge defined in the spiral flanges, and the driving feedingwheel further has a sensing protrusion sensed by the sensor and apushing protrusion to push the bottom one of the stack of compact diskstowards the driven feeding wheels when the driving feeding wheel isrotated.
 17. An automatic disk reproducing method comprising holding astack of compact disks in position and using gravity to pull the compactdisk at the bottom of the stack of compact disks once by a disk feedingdevice; receiving the fallen compact disk on a tray of a duplicatingdevice to duplicate where the tray is at an ejected position; retractingthe tray to a retracted position; recording the compact disk on thetray; ejecting the tray with the recorded compact disk to the ejectedposition; elevating the recorded compact disk from the tray by a diskconveying device; retracting the tray to the retracted position; andconveying the recorded compact disk to a disk holder by the diskconveying device.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein thedisk feeding device comprises a disk feeding mechanism, and the diskfeeding mechanism comprises multiple feeding wheels, each feeding wheelhaving multiple spiral flanges and a cutting edge defined in the spiralflanges; a power transmission member; a power device; and a reducingdevice coupled to the power device; wherein the feeding wheels engagethe reducing device, are rotated by the reducing device through thepower transmission member as the power device is turned on.
 19. Themethod as claimed in claim 17, wherein the disk conveying devicecomprises two conveying members and two swinging arms connectedrespectively to the conveying members to elevate the recorded compactdisk from the tray.
 20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein theduplicating device is a compact disk burner.